Chaos on roads leaves commuters in lurch

Amit Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6

The busy Madhya Marg stretch between the Transport light point and the Housing Board light point, connecting Chandigarh with Panchkula, remained jammed for vehicular traffic for a couple of hours during the afternoon while the roads separating Sector 29 and 30, Sector 27 and 28 and Sector 46, 47, 48 and 49, besides several other busy junctions remained clogged during the peak hours in the evening, leaving commuters stranded.

Madhya Marg was blocked by some protesters at the Kalagram light point, which blocked vehicular traffic when the schools got off, leaving several school buses and other routine vehicles stranded on the busy road. People heading towards Mani Majra and Panchkula, who were stuck in the jam, had to face a harrowing time.

The police later diverted the traffic heading to the Housing Board light point towards the Modern Housing Complex from where the traffic was again diverted towards the Housing Board light point.

Mandeep, a commuter who was heading towards Panchkula, said it took him almost an hour and a half to reach the Housing Board light point from Sector 26. 

Although traffic cops were present at intersections, it took them over two hours to bring the situation back to normal. 

In the evening, several city roads were blocked due to repair works and non-functional traffic signals when the vehicular traffic was at its peak after the office time. A traffic jam was witnessed on the roads separating Sector 29 and 30 and Sector 27 and 28 in the evening. Commuters were stuck for around 30 minutes. 

“There was total chaos on the road,” said Abhinav, who was heading towards Sector 32 from Sector 27.  Though traffic cops were seen manning the traffic, commuters complained of total chaos, which led to serpentine queues of vehicles stretching up to 2 to 3 km.